Bears go with Gray once more

The last time Tyler Gray pitched against Houston Baptist, he was thrown out of the game.

Now, he’ll try and throw the Huskies out of the Southland Conference Tournament.

The senior right-hander will start for the University of Central Arkansas at 7 p.m. today in its firstround game with HBU at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.

Gray ( 61, 2.91 ERA), who earned the Bears’ first Southland Pitcher of the Year award on Monday, last pitched against the Huskies on April 7, when he was ejected for throwing a pitch high and inside after surrendering a home run in a 5-3 loss.

HBU (26-28, 18-12 Southland) won the three-game series 2-1 over UCA (32-23, 17-13), and the Huskies were able to finish one game ahead of the Bears in the conference standings.

Tonight, HBU will start senior right-hander Matthew McCollough ( 8- 3, 3.02), who pitched a complete game in a 3-1 victory over UCA on April 8.

The two programs are comparable in pitching — hardly separate in team ERA ( UCA, 4.09; HBU 4.33) — and both Gray and McCollough were named to the All-Southland First Team.

UCA’s eighth-year Coach Allen Gum has full confidence in Gray, who beat HBU in the first game of last season’s Southland Tournament, when the Bears lost to Sam Houston State in the championship game.

“When his stuff is good, he can throw with just about anybody,” Gum said of Gray, whose fastball ranges from 88 to 93 mph and his breaking ball drops to 83 to 86.

Some pitchers have much wider speed gaps between their fastballs and breaking balls, and Gum said Gray’s margin plays to his advantage because the pitches all look very similar.

“Hitters aren’t able to tell what’s coming out of his hand for the first 20 feet,” he said.

UCA has a wider advantage at the plate, and the Bears’ team batting average (.288) ranks third in the Southland, while the Huskies’ .266 ranks 10th.

UCA junior first baseman Hunter Strong (.344 batting, 44 RBI) and senior third baseman Rigo Aguilar (. 325, 37 RBI) both were named to the All-Southland Second Team.

HBU senior designated hitter Matt Heck (. 362 batting, 45 RBI) was named the Southland’s Hitter of the Year, and he ranks fourth in the conference with a .586 slugging percentage.

In Heck’s last appearance against UCA’s Gray, he went 2 for 3, with the threerun home run that preceded Gray’s pitch that went high and inside.

For the second year in a row, UCA’s path to its first Southland Conference Tournament championship since 2013 begins against HBU.

“They’re tough to beat,” Gum said. We got an idea of how they play, what they do, their strengths and weaknesses. It just comes down to playing good baseball.”

Gum